I recently had a client refer to their competitor and ask, ‘they are doing x, shouldn’t we be doing that too?’

This question is very common and natural. You see people copying people everywhere. Copying people gets your brand ignored.

• Let’s get Twitter – everyone else has one
• Can we have a blog?
• We need a Facebook page
• Let’s get a LinkedIn Company page!
• Can we have a poll on our website?
• We need a Pinterest Board?!

The answer to all these Qs and statements is, why? Who are you aiming at? Once you know that, you can consider:

• your skill set (Is it lacking?)
• your man-power (do you have enough people?)
• your budget,
• your community (do you need engagement to make it work?)

But even then, you need to know what success looks like. Just because your competitors are doing something, that doesn’t means that they are doing it right – maybe their ‘success’ is failing – you don’t have access to their data and you don’t know what they are trying to achieve.

So next time you see a social media ‘norm’, question it – in fact I hope you’re questioning everything in life anyway!

Mark